cant change res in new linux install

tonymontana · 09-30-2003, 12:54 AM

hi all,
i just installed SuSE linux 8.2 pretty smoothly but my only problem is that i cannot change the resolution ...i am stuck in 640X whatever.....everything is big and hard to move around in. whenever i go to the control center it tells me to manually configure my monitor...so i do what it says and im picking the right htings but when i test it just fails :\.......i have a 17" dell flatscreen model e171fpb and my gfx card is the lame Intel 82865G gfx controller......any help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated

-thanks

wapcaplet · 09-30-2003, 02:18 AM

Ah yes, configuring the available resolutions is still one of the biggest pains about Linux IMHO. As far as I know, you can do it one of two ways: run Xconfigurator, XF86Config, or xf86config from a console (silly case-sensitive program names), which allows you to re-configure all your X window settings, or (my suggestion) just modify your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.

First, become root and do the following in a terminal window:

/sbin/init 3

that'll drop you out of X so you can change its configuration. Then use vi, emacs, jed, or whatever your preferred console editor is, and open up /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Look for something like:

Code:

Section "Screen"
  ...
  Subsection "Display"
  Depth 8
  Modes "800x600" "640x480" ...
  EndSubsection
  ...
EndSection

Add additional resolutions that your monitor can support to the "Modes" section of whatever color depth you want to run in. If they are already there, then all you should need to do is switch to them once X is running: you can cycle through these modes by pressing control-alt-keypadplus or control-alt-keypadminus.

Anyhow, after you've edited the config, get back to the console and type:

/sbin/init 5

which will bring X back up, hopefully in a non-garbled form

tonymontana · 09-14-2004, 06:16 PM

i know this is old but i googled and found it again . i dug out my old SuSE 8.2 and thought id try again and i got the same problem....i did what wapcaplet said and got the same error i used to get when i tried to solve this problem! its annoying! here is what i get after i make a change and try to start KDE :

Code:

xsetroot: unable to open display "
ksplash: cannot connect to X server
kdeinit: aborting. $DISPLAY is not set
warning: connect(failed) : no such file or directory
ksmserver: cannot connect to X server
startkde: shutting down...
warning: connect(failed) : no such file or directory
error: can't contact kdeinit!
startkde: running shutdown scripts...
startkde: done

i am a linux newbie so be easy on me! any help would be MUCH appreciated

tonymontana · 09-14-2004, 10:23 PM

anyone?

tonymontana · 09-14-2004, 10:47 PM

well i changed my file as mentioned above and i added some supported resolutions but when i try to cycle through them by alt+ctrlkeypad+ nothing happens? any ideas?

johnnybezak · 09-15-2004, 03:17 AM

try downloading mandrake from linuxiso.org, then you can just do it graphically, and get your feet wet with X later on